Trudi Canavan’s The Traitor Queen
A solid and satisfying wrap-up to this series! Great character moments, fun action scenes, some sweet romances, etc. I’m actually kind of bummed there aren’t more books, because I’d love to see what happens next. A-.
Trudi Canavan's The Rogue
As usual, some parts of this book dragged a little and some parts had me hooked! The addition of a naive young lesbian was a highlight, even as parts of her plotline has me screaming (but I loved where it ended up). There’s also some good political and magical negotiation stuff, some looks into other cultures, etc. The bits about tracking down a rogue magician felt like filler, but powerful queens and badass ladies trying to be spies made up for it. B+.
Trudi Canavan’s The Ambassador's Mission
The Traitor Spy series is set 20ish years after the Black Magician series, but the main characters remain the same (with the addition of one young adult child). There are a few separate plot lines going on—ambassadors to a new country; someone hunting down Thieves; the protagonist from the previous series doing various things. The first two drag a bit (the Thief's quest for vengeance should be interesting, but is mainly just thinking up convoluted traps that don’t go anywhere, plus the villain is obvious), but things pick up as the plot lines start to come together—and as we start to see glimpses of a hidden matriarchal society! Goddammit, just when I thought I was out, she pulled me back in. B.
Trudi Canavan's The High Lord
I have a loooooot of mixed feelings about this conclusion to the Black Magician series, for sure. The only good romance was between the two adorable gay nerds (dealing with a disapproving society); I was decidedly not into the protagonist's romance. Still, good action scenes, good friendship scenes, interesting wrap-up. I didn’t love this book but I just found out there's a sequel trilogy and I’m interested enough to keep going with these characters. B.
Trudi Canavan’s The Novice
The second book on this series is kind of an improvement; there are several more POV characters, there is a lot of fun library research, there is the start of a cute romance between two dudes. The protagonist has the usual “no one at this training accepts me” but here it’s not because she’s a girl who wants to be a warrior, but a poor girl who has magical talent, and the rich assholes bully her MERCILESSLY. It’s unpleasant. I am interested to see how things wrap up in the finale, though. B+.
Trudi Canavan's The Magicians' Guild
The first book in the Black Magician trilogy is kind of slow, but I enjoyed it anyway. It’s about a young girl in the slums who discovers she has magic powers, and now the powerful magicians' guild is tracking her down, because if she doesn’t learn to control her powers, she'll basically blow up and take a city block with her. But like that is the entire first half of the book! You know she's gonna end up with the magicians eventually, so just GET there already. And there's interesting conflict there—they’re all rich snobby assholes (even the non assholes are very classist), and one in particular has it out for her, and he’s very menacing! Plus she has to learn magic stuff! The very end sets up bigger stakes, too. I am hoping the second book is slightly more eventful. B+.
Naomi Kritzer’s Chaos on CatNet
The sequel CatNet book is more of a straightforward mystery/thriller: is there another AI, and is it nice or nefarious? There’s also a new POV character (along with Steph and CC), a new friend who's escaped from a cult after the disappearance of her mother, but now her secret girlfriend is ALSO missing. So obviously they have to band together to investigate that, too! I liked reading this a lot—Kritzer says in an afterword that she wrote the Minneapolis she wants to see, and it’s a pretty great version. Lots of queer people, lots of pancakes, lots of tension. I did think it ended kind of abruptly, but thought it was satisfying anyway. A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on April 27th.
Naomi Kritzer's Catfishing on CatNet
Rereading this as a palate cleanser AND to refresh my memory for the upcoming sequel! I've read this several times and every time have felt joy that it is about INTERNET PALS (one of whom is a cat-picture-loving AI!). It starts off as a story about a girl whose mother moves them from town to town, on the run from the girl's abusive father, and the girl starts to gradually make real life friends, etc, and then it turns into a bit of a thriller. But the characters are all so great that it works. I love this book and can’t wait to read the next one.
Kiley Reid's Such a Fun Age
I'll be upfront: I did not want to read this book. I know it got good reviews, but I am not interested in contemporary fiction/Issues books right now. (Especially fiction where the book club guide includes THEMED COCKTAILS. But hey, good for a young black woman to get in on the wine mom book club market.) I mean, I already know white women are terrible, I don't want to read a whole book where I'm cringing about it. But of course I am not a /total/ dictator over my own (non-wine-mom) book club, so here we are.
All that is to say that I didn’t really like this book, but not for the reasons I was expecting? I mean, it’s a fine book, just I personally was not into it. Emira and her friends are all really well written, and I’d have rather read a book about them. I have a lot of thoughts about Alix, mainly that she sucked, and her friend Tamra was not remotely believable. I am curious to see what my book club makes of this. I can see why it is so popular with liberal white ladies, certainly. I’m going back to my genre fiction, though. B.
Victoria Goddard’s Love-in-a-Mist
The fifth Greenwing and Dart book finds our band of friends snowed in at a stranger's house, where there is a MURDER. There's also a mysterious butler, a burgeoning romance, and A BABY UNICORN. Suffice it to say, I love this book. I know Goddard has been exploring other corners of her world with her recent books, but I do hope she comes back to these characters, because I’m dying to see them at their winter ball (and also to see them band together and triumph politically—but mainly the ball).
Victoria Goddard’s Blackcurrant Fool
The fourth Greenwing and Dart book finds our pals on a road trip to check out some scholastic opportunities—and pick up a heretofore unknown relation. Book fairs, nefarious exes, chance encounters, and some astute literary analysis ensue! This one gets kind of metaphysical but in a way I found very moving. And also, it’s all very funny.
Victoria Goddard’s Whiskeyjack
I can’t talk about the plot of this without spoilers, so I will just say it is full of MAGIC and MYSTERY and FRIENDS.
Victoria Goddard’s Bee Sting Cake
These books are so funny, but also emotional, which is a very satisfying combination. This one has dragon riddles, claiming inheritances, gambling rings, and a very important cake competition. So good.
Victoria Goddard’s Stargazy Pie
Sometimes this blog is kind of a burden, because sometimes I just want to reread books without having to think of something to SAY about them! I’ve read this book several times and have enjoyed it every single one, because it’s full of magic and mystery and practical bookstore owners and eventful dinner parties and cults and friendship. I love visiting this world and am starting bool two right now.
Victoria Goddard's The Return of Fitzroy Angursell
Back on my bullshit, rereading fantasy novels so I know I will be satisfied with my reading experience. This is actually only the second read of this, so it was still pretty fresh and exciting, as our wayward emperor begins his quest, has hilarious (and less hilarious) adventures, finds some old friends, and encounters some new ones. This is slamming right into Goddard's Greenwing and Dart books, and I can’t wait to see further collisions, whenever the next book comes out (I am pleading with the author to update her website, which is like three books behind at this point).
Casey McQuiston's One Last Stop
I am having a hard time articulating my feelings about this book. I mean, it was going to be tough to follow up Red, White, and Royal Blue, so I’m glad McQuiston went in a totally different direction with this one (it’s about a bi girl who falls for a hot lesbian on her subway commute, but she’s been stuck there since the 70s). Here's the thing: this would be an AWESOME movie. A large cast of diverse and quirky sidekicks (including not one, but two, drag queens), a couple of mysteries, subway makeouts, fighting gentrification, etc. But like, it /feels/ like a movie. It’s all too neat and nice. On the other hand, isn’t it awesome to have a super cute and very queer romance novel with a fantastical element? And as the target audience for that, shouldn’t I just get on board? Ok, yes. This IS a super cute queer romance novel. But also, someone should make it into a movie. A/A-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on June 1st.
K.B. Spangler's The Blackwing War
I was excited to read the further adventures of Tembi and the Deep, but this book was pretty grim. I mean, “war” is in the title, but that doesn’t necessarily imply genocidal Space Nazis running scifi Auschwitz. Which is a thing happening in this book. I still like the characters even if I found some of the motivations and politicking confusing, and I will probably read the next one to see what Tembi gets up to. But yeah. Grim. B.
K.B. Spangler's Stoneskin
This is the prequel to a series whose first book proper just came out, and I wanted to re-familiarize myself with the world and characters. Also, I like this book a lot and am always happy to reread good books! Anyway, this is a book with a great concept—a sentient energy in the galaxy kind of adopts people who can use it to instantaneously move stuff from anywhere to anywhere, and those people are called Witches. And now it’s chosen its youngest ever Witch, but why? This book has great friends and mentors, Witch school, just causes, politics, everything I love in a book.
Genevieve Cogman’s The Dark Archive
The most recent book in this series was fine, if a little darker than some of the previous books. Something I've been waiting to be confirmed was confirmed, there was lots of action, etc. The new apprentice was not as fun as I was hoping but shows promise as a character. There’s a lot of hinting at even bigger and darker plots. I will probably read the next book whenever it comes out, though I think this series might be better as a binge (I am binging book series now too). B/B+.
Genevieve Cogman’s The Secret Chapter
The sixth book in this series finds our protagonist and her dragon pal pressured into being part of a HEIST! Lots of fun twists and turns in this one, some fun new characters, and interesting hints toward the future (there’s only one book left but I gather more are forthcoming, and there’s way too much going on to wrap up in one). A-/B+.
Genevieve Cogman’s The Mortal Word
The fifth book in this series is super fun and tense, as our band of pals is called on to investigate a dragon murder at a peace conference. Plenty of red herrings and side plotting happening! This is a pretty good mystery as well as a fun fantasy adventure story. I’m fully on board with this series now. A-/B+.
Genevieve Cogman’s The Lost Plot
The fourth book in this series finds our protagonist and her apprentice in 1920s America, trying to track down a Librarian who seems to be mixed up in dragon politics. There are also a lot of mobsters, bootleggers, and gun molls running around! Fun and action-packed. B+.
Genevieve Cogman’s The Burning Page
All right, this third volume was pretty fun and action packed, I guess I’ll keep reading this series after all! (Though I do hope one thing being hinted at turns out not to be true.) B+.
Genevieve Cogman's The Masked City
So I assumed this series was setting up a whole gaslamp London mystery thing, which I'm not particularly into, but instead, in this second volume, the protagonist’s apprentice is kidnapped, and she ends up spending the ENTIRE book in an alternate historical Venice trying to rescue him from fairies. It’s even MORE boring than gaslamp mysteries! I mean there are some fun moments with a drunk fairy girl who wants to seduce heroes, but really, nothing actually happens in this book. I’m going to give this series one more chance, just because I want to get into a series! B.
Genevieve Cogman's The Invisible Library
I have actually read this before, but didn’t love it because of the way it wrapped up and never bothered with the rest of the series. But now I am forever on the hunt for fantasy series by women authors, so it was time to revisit! I didn’t remember the details so it was fun to reread; it’s about a woman who works for an interdimensional Library, which sends people to alternate worlds to snatch up rare books. Now she’s on a mission with a new apprentice, but things quickly get way more complicated than expected. Maybe because it was a reread, or just my general state of mind, but I didn’t mind the ending this time, and look forward to seeing the further adventures of our book-loving characters. A-/B+.
Tansy Rayner Roberts' Castle Charming
I read a short little novelette by Roberts last night as a palate cleanser; it was super cute but too short for any real character development. So I was psyched to try a full-length novel from her (though this seems like it might have originally been serialized?). Anyway, the story here is set at the titular Castle Charming, home of a certain queen who was famous for her glass slippers, except things went badly not long after, with one of her children kidnapped and the queen ending up in a cursed sleep. Now it’s years later, her remaining children are beyond rebellious, and a new Royal guard, a new young reporter, and a visiting princess all get tangled up with things. And several other fairy tales come into the mix. I really liked all the characters here, plus there’s lots of queer romance and magic and action and meddling fairies. Just a good fun and fluffy time. Just what I needed. A-.
Kazuo Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun
Historically, I’ve been a big Ishiguro fan (though admittedly I could not get into and never finished the novel preceding this one). And also historically, I L O V E love stories about sentient AIs (this book is about an Artificial Friend purchased by an ill fourteen year old girl). But this book left me cold and also bummed me out. It’s like a retread of Never Let Me Go, but the narrator is hopelessly naive and never grows or evolves. (Which is weird, because everyone keeps talking about how amazing and observant she is.) There are hints of an interesting/dystopian near-future society, but the narrator is not interested in these things and so we don’t learn about them. Also, all the people in this book are BIZARRE. Like if your neighbor's (or kid's) robot friend wants to do something strange because it will somehow help her charge, you aren’t going to ask any follow-up questions? (And that is not getting into spoilery territory.) Maybe there is some deep symbolism I’m just not getting, but I don’t know what the point of this book was, at all, except to depress its readers. I mean, some real Giving Tree vibes. B/B-.
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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released tomorrow.
